“Sometimes in life, there will be curveballs. And you got to hit them out of the park.” That was something my dad loved to say whenever I came to him with a problem. Well, Frank Specter standing in my doorway while there was a copy of me sleeping on the bed was a curveball that missed the bat altogether and hit me straight in the nuts.

Let me describe the most ridiculous situation I had ever experienced in my life until then. My kind-of-best-friend/friend-I-had-known-for-the-longest-time, Frank (this is the last time I describe him this way, I promise) was standing at the door of my house. He had supposedly broken into my house without making a squeak and looking at me with a smug look on his face. To add to the ridiculousness of the situation, someone was sleeping on the bed I had just vacated. Let me rephrase that. Not just someone, a copy of myself I had no idea existed until then. Needless to say, I was flummoxed.

“That pill really worked, huh?”. Those were first words out of my friend’s after what seemed like hours of us staring each other down. I was broken out of my reverie after he spoke those words. I was struck with the immediate temptation to punch the smug smile off his face. But one thing that I have learned in all my years of friendship with Frank was that you never take on Frank in a fight. Bad things happen if you do.

My shock was now slowly morphing into rage and frustration, at the situation and most importantly, at Frank.

“What the hell is happening here, man?” I couldn’t keep my incredulity out of tone as I demanded some sort of explanation for this ludicrous situation I had found myself in.

“First of all, let me congratulate you on your untethering. Exciting times await you, my friend.” Frank announced, acting as if I had just won the lottery.

Okay, now I was reaching my boiling point. I demanded an explanation and not some weird declaration of terms which I had no way of comprehending. I was seriously contemplating just punching the shit out of my friend, consequences be damned. But I restrained myself and enquired again with as much composure as I could muster.

“Seriously, not helping. Explain it to me in terms I can understand. And what is this ‘untethering’ stuff?” 

“Why don’t you sit down first? It’s gonna be a while.” Frank calmly said.

“Dude, you better explain some things quick. I am reaching the end of my patience here.” I wasn’t feeling his calm and composed attitude, acting if this was just another banter-filled conversation between friends.

“Someone is sleeping on my bed who looks exactly like me. Last time I checked, I don’t have a twin brother and I went to bed alone. Now, my best friend is standing nonchalantly in my room as if he was supposed to be here all along when I pretty sure you broke into my house. And all this mess started with the god-knows-what pill you gave me on the account of our friendship. So, forgive me if I don’t sit down.” I was out of breath and out of fucks to give at this point and nothing he said would calm me down.

“Okay then, have it your way, “he murmured, acting as if his usually laid-back friend hadn’t just gone on an angry tirade. “To begin with, just let me say that ‘this mess’ you keep referring to didn’t start with the pills I provided out of the kindness of my heart. You’re welcome, by the way. No, the beginning of all this mess was actually the mysterious illness that has ailed you over the last couple of weeks. It was no illness, my friend, it was actually your soul or spirit or whatever fancy you want to use to describe your true being trying to leave the plane that all mortals reside in. The pill just sped up the process, taking away days of excruciating pain which you could do without.”

“I was going to die?” I asked, my brain freezing with the implications of what he had just said.

“No, why would you think that?” he asked with a puzzled look on his face as if I was an idiot.

“You just said my soul was about to leave the mortal plane. That’s literally the whacky spiritual way of saying that someone is dying.” I rambled vehemently, unable to comprehend the fact that my friend had just delivered the news of my impending doom with all the grace of a newspaper boy throwing a paper while cycling.

Frank just casually waved my concerns off saying, “Nah, mate. I just meant that your soul was no longer able to sustain itself in the mortal plane. Never mentioned anything about dying.”

“Thanks, mate, that cleared everything up. Coffee?” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my tone and Frank wasn’t best pleased with me interrupting his explanation.

“Let me explain first. And don’t interrupt. In the world we live in, there are two planes, one of which ordinary mortals can’t perceive. Normally, mortals just live out their entire lives without ever becoming aware that another plane exists. But sometimes, some individuals are born special. You see, their true being, or core as we call it, differs from other beings. These cores being special means the sustenance provided by the mortal plane isn’t enough for these cores to survive. So, these souls just try to leave the mortal plane so that they can cross over to the plane we are currently in, simply known as ‘The Dimension’. This dimension contains energy called ‘miasma’, which is the energy required to sustain the core of an individual like us.”

I couldn’t help but interrupt at this point. The more Frank spoke, the more confused I became and the questions kept racing around my brain.

“Wait up, individuals like us? What does that mean?”, I enquired, wondering what was so special about me.

“Individuals like us, or ‘Untethered’ as we like to call ourselves, have the special core I talked about. The need for miasma makes it impossible for our cores to actually live in the mortal plane for long and our cores leave the mortal body we were stuck in. Hence, the term ‘Untethered’. The time it requires an individual to untether is dependent on the individual himself, but it always happens if someone has a special core. That was the reason for your illness and pains actually. Now that the untethering process is complete your ailments have also passed.” Frank explained in an attempt to assuage my concerns.

I dramatically raised my hands to address a few of the other concerns I was having.” Some questions, master. If I have untethered, what the fuck is a doppelganger of mine doing on my bed? Can the so-called ordinary mortals perceive us? And what in the name of heaven is so special about our cores that they can’t survive on ordinary mortal food. I rather like my pizza, if you don’t mind.”

Frank had an amused grin on his face as he proceeded to answer my questions, “Good questions, my good padawan. First of all, as I said, only the core can enter The Dimension, not their mortal vessels. So, that would make that doppelganger lying on your bed, your mortal body.” He finished that with a short grin, almost as if he was looking forward to my reaction to that piece of news for a long time.

“What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I had a mental breakdown. I am not ashamed to admit that I had a little freak out in my head and was close to jumping out of the window, just to make sure I was really hearing this stuff and not making it up in my mind. Not one of my standout personal moments, I can assure you.

Taking some time to compose myself, I just stated, disbelief shining through my words, “But that does mean I am dead, doesn’t it? And you said before that I didn’t!!”

Frank took a moment to savour my reaction before replying, “Well, if you would have let me proceed, I would have answered that question even without being asked. Well, that was just your mortal vessel, your ‘tether’ if you will. Now that your core has passed over to the dimension, it will disintegrate in a few days, leaving behind no trace. Although, I would suggest you hide it. You walking around while a copy of yourself is lying on a bed is not something you want to explain to anyone.”

Again, I couldn’t help myself. “But that would mean I am dead to everyone in the mortal plane. My parents, my friends and everyone else. How is that supposed to be helpful? You………..”

Frank raised a hand to stop another tirade from me. “First of all, David, just let me ask ‘Friends, what friends’?”

Ignoring his low blow, for the time being, I just impatiently asked him to proceed with his explanation.

“People on The Dimension can interact with people on the mortal plane. For all intents and purposes as far as the mortal plane goes, this never happened. Just think of it as getting a new and a vastly improved body.”

At those words, I couldn’t help but look down at myself. He was right. My physical appearance had improved. I could see the clear outline of my abs through my shirt and I had never worked out that hard. The sleeves of my shirt had stretched to their limit and looked like they could tear apart at any time if I flexed my muscles. I even seemed to have shot up a few inches. Out of perverse curiousity, I even tried to look under my pants. And to my amazement and, frankly, delight I could swear I had grown a few inches down there.

Frank interrupted my self-examination though, wanting to continue with his explanation.

“I know, right? Believe me, those are the least of the changes. But if I recall correctly, you had a few more questions, right? As I was saying The Dimension dwellers can interact with mortals, but only if they desire to. Any change in the Dimension isn’t reflected in the mortal plane. If it was, there would be a hell lot of unexplained stuff going on around the world, because let me you the Dimension is a chaotic place and its dwellers are a chaotic lot. You will know what I mean in the coming days, don’t worry.”

Hearing his tone as he said the last sentence, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what he meant. The whole deal sounded too troublesome. But I still had unanswered questions I needed some conclusion to, so I let that go for now.

“Okay, but what is ‘miasma’? And what is so special about us that our soul or cores or whatever couldn’t just stay in the mortal plane and had to go to the this ‘Dimension’ you speak of?”

Frank seemed perturbed after I asked that question. Eventually, he did proceed to try and answer my questions.

“Let me just say something. Even my knowledge on most of this stuff isn’t watertight. I am a small fry in a very big pond, not high enough in the food chain to know the answers to these questions. What I am to tell you is mostly a combination of whatever knowledge I have been able to gather through conversations and experiences and some slight conjecture on my part.”

“Miasma is the mysterious energy that constitutes most of our universe. Anything and everything is made up of miasma. Even the mortal plane is made up of miasma. It may have various forms but it is still miasma. The fact that mortals can’t perceive the Dimension is due to miasma. Miasma can take various forms. Even the mortal plane is somewhat aware of the existence of miasma. It has given it various names like dark energy, dark matter and a myriad of other theories regarding its nature. That’s all miasma. But most importantly for us, the untethered, miasma enhances us. Makes us stronger, faster, better, mentally sharper. But most importantly, miasma gives us the ability to manipulate, absorb and control miasma itself. And that’s the answer to your question about what makes us special. We, the untethered have the ability to interact with miasma. Manipulate it, absorb it and give it shape. Some can even bend it to their will according to their desire.”

Information overload…… Information overload…… Information overload……

Those were the words appearing in my brain as it tried to fathom the scope the information Frank had so casually dumped on me. A mysterious energy, manipulation, bending….. all of this sounded like it had come from the realms of fiction. Comic books, movies, games…. that’s where this stuff belonged. And it should certainly not involve me. Me, a loner with stupid desires and a stupid name to go with it.

While I was having my own inner monologue ranting and raving about my misfortune, Frank had crossed the room. He just put his arms on my shoulders and asked, “Hey man, you ok? I know it can be a lot to take.”

Any other situation and his action would have me jump out of my skin with fright. It was a true testament to the effect the various events had had on me that I didn’t show the barest of reactions. Even in the midst of all these overwhelming and confusing revelations, a question kept bothering me.

“Yeah man, I am cool. You should manipulate miasma, absorb it and stuff and something about abilities. You mean like superpowers or something?” I enquired. I will admit that the possibility of having superpowers did sort of excite me.

“Hmm… how to answer this? Superpowers? You can say that. Every individual almost always has unique ways they can manipulate miasma. Some can control fire and some can fly. I would rather not go into the depths of this explanation right now! You are still far off from having any way to uniquely miasma yourself, Dave!” He said, correctly guessing that I was looking forward to having superpowers.

“You should get a change of clothes. We are going out. There are some people I want you to meet.” He said while sitting down, motioning me towards my closet.

“What people?” I couldn’t help asking. Meeting strange people or friends of my friends was not exactly my forte and no amount of miasma or any other weird stuff would change that.

Frank was quick to reply, “Other untethered. It will be easier for you to understand some of this stuff coming from various other sources. I am not too high on the ‘lore’ and ‘science’ of the Dimension if you will.”

Nodding to myself, I almost turned around to do as he asked. But another question popped into my head at that exact moment.

“Hey Frank, can you?”, I asked.

“Can I what?”, he asked back, puzzled.

“Can you manipulate miasma? Or some of the other stuff you were talking about? Interaction or something, I don’t remember.”

Frank was quiet for a moment before replying, “Can I manipulate miasma? You tell me!” As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hand. In the palm of his hands was a fire coloured the most vivid pink I had ever seen. And for what seemed like the millionth time that day, my brain shut down.